THESE BALLISTIC SUNGLASSES WERE USED BY SERGEANT GEORGE CARSCADDEN DURING HIS SERVICE WITH THE LETHBRIDGE REGIONAL POLICE TACTICAL UNIT FROM 1999 TO 2012. CARSCADDEN JOINED THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE IN 1997, AFTER WORKING WITH THE PEEL REGIONAL POLICE SERVICES IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA FROM 1988 TO 1997. DURING HIS CAREER IN PEEL, CARSCADDEN RECEIVED SPECIAL TRAINING, INCLUDING COMPLETING THE FBI’S OBSERVER/SNIPER COURSE, WHICH INFORMED HIS APPLICATION AND ACCEPTANCE TO THE TACTICAL UNIT IN LETHBRIDGE. CARSCADDEN DESCRIBED HIS USE OF THESE SUNGLASSES AS SUCH: “EYEWEAR IS PROTECTION FOR WHEN YOU ARE DOING ENTRIES, SO YOU DON’T GET ANY PARTICULATE STUFF IN YOUR EYES… IF YOU HAVE TO OUT THROUGH A WINDOW OR A DOOR… THESE ARE GLASSES THAT I’D HAVE, MADE TO NOT GET FOGGED UP. I DRILLED HOLES IN THESE ONES, SO [THEY ARE A] MAKESHIFT PIECE OF GEAR… NOW THEY HAVE DEDICATED TACTICAL GLASSES THAT ARE ANTI-FOG… BALLISTIC GOGGLES [HAVE] DRASTICALLY IMPROVED THE PROTECTION FOR THE OFFICER’S FACES…THAT’S THE CHANGE THAT I’VE SEEN WITH GEAR AND EQUIPMENT. IT’S GOT MORE SPECIALIZED AND PURPOSEFUL FOR THE OFFICER.”
ON JULY 28, 2015 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED SGT. CARSCADDEN ABOUT HIS SERVICE WITH THE LRPS TACTICAL UNIT. CARSCADDEN SAID: “FIRST OF ALL, I JUST WENT AS A QUARRY… ALL DIFFERENT SPECIALTY UNITS THAT HAVE SOME KIND OF TACTICAL SCENARIO LIKE TO HAVE QUARRIES TO [HELP TRAIN THEM] TO DO THEIR JOB BETTER, SO I THOUGHT ‘I’LL GO WORK AS A QUARRY TO SHOW THEM I’M INTERESTED’. A QUARRY IS GENERALLY A BAD GUY – YOU PRETEND YOU’RE HIDING, OR MOVING OR YELLING OR RUNNING AWAY AND TRYING TO EVADE THEM, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE YOU… IT TOOK A COUPLE OF YEARS, BUT I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH… IN THE MOVEMENT OF THE TEAM THAT THERE WERE [POSITIONS OPEN]… THERE IS A PHYSICAL, AND INTERVIEW, SOME TESTS… I WENT THROUGH AND STUDIED, AND DID THE BEST THAT I COULD… MAKING SURE YOU ARE IN GOOD PHYSICAL SHAPE BECAUSE YOU ARE CARRYING AN EXTRA 50 POUNDS OF GEAR… THAT’S JUST THE GEAR THAT YOU ARE CARRYING ON YOURSELF, NOT A RAM OR DIFFERENT TYPE OF EQUIPMENT THAT YOU MIGHT BE MOVING INTO PLACE FOR DIFFERENT TACTICS… I WAS AROUND 35 [YEARS OLD]. I WAS AN OLDER GUY APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION, BUT I WAS IN GOOD SHAPE AND HAD SOME GOOD EXPERIENCES THAT MADE ME COMPETITIVE, SO I DON’T THINK YOUR AGE TAKES YOU OUT OF THE EQUATION IF YOU ARE REALLY DETERMINED.”
CARSCADDEN CONTINUED: “I’VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT POSITIONS WITHIN [THE TACTICAL] UNIT… I STARTED OFF AS AN ASSAULTER… THE PERSON WHO CARRIES ALL THE GEAR, SO YOU’RE IN THE BACK… THE LAST PERSON THAT COMES IN. IT’S A GOOD POSITION TO START OFF WITH. IT MAKES IT SAFER FOR WHEN YOU’RE GOING INTO THESE HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENTS… FROM THERE I WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE OBSERVER, THEN A SNIPER, THEN FROM THERE… A BREECHER. SO YOU ARE BREECHING DOORS AND WINDOWS. [THEN] I WENT TO THE FRONT OF THE TACTICAL LINE-UP, WHICH IS THE SCOUT… THEN THE LAST SIX YEARS THAT I WAS ON THE TACTICAL TEAM, I WAS THE PERSON IN CHARGE, THE TEAM LEADER… AND I WAS RUNNING OPERATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR CANINE UNIT AND OUR EXPLOSIVES DISPOSAL UNIT… THE TRAINING IS REALLY GOOD. [THE TEAM] TRAINS EVERY TWO WEEKS, AND DO LOTS OF MOVEMENTS AND SHOOTING AND TACTICS. IT’S A PERISHABLE SKILL, THAT IF YOU DON’T REPEAT AND PRACTICE IT ALL THE TIME, IT DIMINISHES… PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT. IT ALLOWS YOU TO BE BETTER AT YOUR GAME... YOU NEED TO HAVE A MINDSET [OF] BEING NOT ONLY PHYSICALLY TOUGH, BUT MENTALLY TOUGH, WHEN YOU DEAL WITH THINGS IN A HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENT… YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF DRIVE TO GET YOU THROUGH THINGS.”
CARSCADDEN CONCLUDED: “ONE OF THE THINGS I’M PROUD OF ON THE TACTICAL SIDE IS THAT I WAS THE OFFICER WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING LESS LETHAL CAPABILITY TO THE TEAM… [WE] MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN SAVING SOMEBODY’S LIFE. WE HELP THEM THROUGH THAT TIME OF NEED… WE HAVE ESTABLISHED WHERE, IN THE PAST IF THAT PERSON COULD HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN SHOT AND INJURED, IF NOT FATALLY SHOT, THAT PERSON NOW CAN BE DEALT WITH A LESS LETHAL MEANS… WE ARE ABLE TO RESTRAIN, ARREST, WITH THESE LESS LETHAL CAPABILITIES. THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE FOR THEM… THE EXPERIENCES THAT I HAD IN PEEL [SHOWED ME LESS LETHAL CAPABILITIES] IN OPERATION AND HOW IT WORKED… THEY WERE ONE OF THE FIRST SERVICES IN CANADA TO HAVE THE RUBBER BULLET… WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT DIFFERENT TACTICS AND HOW YOU CAN DO IT BETTER, THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I RECOGNIZED, THAT [LETHBRIDGE] COULD BRING THIS ON. IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR OUR TEAM AND OUR COMMUNITY: AS OPPOSED TO SHOOTING SOMEBODY AND STOPPING THEM THAT WAY, WE COULD USE THE [RUBBER BULLET] OR BEANBAG ROUND AND THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP STOP THESE PEOPLE [BUT] SAVE THEIR LIVES… IT REALLY OPENS PEOPLE’S EYES WHEN THEY SEE THAT THERE’S A LOT OF OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO PUT IN PLACE FOR DIFFERENT TACTICS. AND WHEN PEOPLE SEE THERE’S ANOTHER WAY OF DOING BUSINESS, IT’S HELPFUL FOR US TO PROGRESS AND PUSH FORWARD… THESE PIECES OF EQUIPMENT ARE HERE TO ALLOW US TO KEEP THINGS CONTROLLED AND TO MAKE US DO OUR JOB BETTER… I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE INVOLVED WITH A VERY SPECIALIZED UNIT AND I’M VERY PROUD OF IT.”
SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT.